UNITED
NATIONS,
August 13, updated-- Rather
than having a
single
standard, the
UN picks and
chooses which
free speech it
will speak up
for, when it
will speak
including
about attacks
on it and who,
when push
comes to
shove, gets
excluded. All
this was on
display at the
UN's August 13
noon briefing.
Video
here and
embedded
below.

Then
at noon, Inner
City Press
asked for the
UN's comment
on this, and
on the Kabila
government
jamming the
new radio
station of the
M23
insurgents.
Does the UN
view this is a
free speech or
press issue,
or as just an
attack on an
armed group
the UN wants
to disarm?

UN
spokesperson
Eduardo Del
Buey chose and
repeated the
latter: it's
an attack on
an armed group
we want to
disarm. Is
that would
UNESCO would
say? And what
of the arrest
of a non-armed
parliamentarian?

The UN
itself stays
silent, for
example on the
taking hostage
of three of
its catering
contractors
in Darfur for
more than a
week now.
Inner City
Press, after
reporting the
story, asked
Del Buey what
the UN's
policy is, of
speaking up
about attacks
on it in some
places and not
others.

Are there
other UN or UN
contractor
hostages being
held but not
disclosed by
Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson's
office? Del
Buey said he
would not
comment on
that.

With
protests
scheduled for
Bahrain
tomorrow, and
reporters and
bloggers being
harassed in
advance, Inner
City Press
asked what the
UN is doing.
Del Buey
repeated a
general
statement
about the
right to
protest. One
wondered, is
Ban's half
time envoy
Terje
Roed-Larsen
telling that
to the
Bahraini
royals?